Mikel warns: Beating Arsenal won’t be easy

Super Eagles midfielder, John Obi Mikel has been talking up the chances of Chelsea ahead of Monday’s Barclays English Premier League clash against Arsenal.

Chelsea will go above the leaders, Arsenal in the Barclays English Premier League standings if they defeat the Gunners at the Emirates Stadium today but Mikel knows the feat will be no walk in the park.

“There has been some stability at Arsenal. And I think people criticising them for failing to win a trophy has helped too. They have not won a trophy yet but you can see they are heading in the right direction,” Mikel told Premier League Television (PLTV).

The Chelsea midfielder also reserved words of praise for the Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger for staying true to his football ideologies and long-term project in North London.

“Arsene Wenger is building something at Arsenal and it’s showing now in the way they are playing and their current position in the league table. They have a very good chance of winning the league title but so do we,” he said.

Chelsea manager, Jose Mourinho has been critical of his players of late for their failure to finish off teams in recent games.

Mourinho was upset that begging chances were not converted as Chelsea relinquished a one-goal lead to lose 1-2 to Sunderland to crash out of the League Cup after extra time on Tuesday.

Mikel says the criticism of the “Special One” has not been over the top even as he promised perceived loopholes would be plugged in the coming days beginning with Monday’s trip to the Emirates Stadium.

“We want to go there (Emirates Stadium) on Monday night and prove what we are made of. He (Mourinho) makes his views clear to us after the games. If we win, he’s happy. If we don’t, he’s not. Hopefully, by Monday, we will put things right. We are playing well and we are doing a few things correctly.

“We need to put the finishing touches and finish off chances when we get them. At the same time we have to defend well too. We want to be top of the table by Christmas and that’s what we are aiming for,” he said.

Mikel has made 10 league appearances for Chelsea this season and has scored once for the Blues against Fulham on September 21 at Stamford Bridge.